[s-cars] Hard brake pedal?

[Eric Rechlin]

Hello everybody,

I have a 1995.5 S6 Avant with over 170,000 miles.  I have the Big Red 993TT 
brakes (installed about 1.5 years ago).

Something that I have noticed over the last few (maybe 6) months (I'm not 
sure when it started) is that the brake pedal is always hard when the car is 
off.  Also, if I hit the pedal very forcefully while at highway speeds, the 
pedal is initially hard until maybe 1/3 of a second later, when it feels 
normal.  Under lighter braking it always feels normal.

Normally I would assume this is a case of the accumulator/bomb needing 
replacement.  In my other car, a 1991 100 quattro, I had similar symptoms 
about 6-7 years ago, except there the red brake warning light stayed on for 
a while when starting up and came on in heavy braking, and I fixed it by 
replacing the bomb.  But in this case, the red brake warning light does not 
come on abnormally (only when the parking brake is on and for a couple 
seconds when starting the engine).

Might it still be the bomb?  Or could this be something bigger and/or more 
expensive?  The bomb was last replaced precisely 4 years ago, to the day 
(~36,000 miles ago), by the previous owner, and at the same time the power 
steering pump was also replaced.

Thanks,

Eric Rechlin
Houston, TX